Dr. Antinori

Hi, I’m Lily (Lilith) Antinori. I’m a licensed psychologist in North Carolina, a yoga teacher, and artist. I approach my work with openness, passion and creativity. My focus areas relate to complex trauma and PTSD, mood and identity concerns, autism, and schizoid and schizotypal personality.

Where I Come From

I identify as a white, neurodivergent woman. I come from a biracial and multicultural (Irish, Scottish, Thai, Italian) family whose history embeds in complex dynamics of gender, race, class and poverty, intergenerational trauma, serious mental illness, and immigration. I locate myself in that history, in its spaces of fracture, healing, impossibility, determination. My passion for this work began during my own childhood encounters with the mental health system. I experienced many shaming and harmful things in the system. At the same time, for me, therapy was an anchor in the storm. My history informs my passion and approach to this work, my desire to help others, and my empathy for my clients.

My Approach to Trauma

As I worked toward my goal of helping others, I took paths well and less traveled, studying psychology, neuroscience, stress physiology, liberation theory, feminist psychology, functional movement, authentic movement, different forms of artistic expression, and Buddhism. Initially, I worked as a biomedical engineering and neuroscience PhD student, researching the effects of fear and trauma on the brain. Then, hoping to help others in a more direct way, I switched to clinical psychology. Now, my passion lies in empowering others to create their life on their own terms.

My Education and Training

I completed my graduate studies at the George Washington University because I felt the program’s emphasis on psychodynamic treatment provided a rich foundation for lasting change. During this time, I completed clinical training at the George Washington University Center Clinic, Connected Psychology in D.C., and the National Institute of Health. On internship, I worked with incarcerated men in the Federal Bureau of Prisons, where I focused on complex trauma and forensic treatment. My post-doctoral residency at Central Regional Hospital was an opportunity for further specialization in complex post-traumatic stress and serious and persistent mental illness.

Currently, I am a Senior Psychologist on Central Regional Hospital’s Community Transition Unit, where I provide psychotherapy, diagnostic assessment, forensic capacity restoration services, and advanced training on differential diagnosis between trauma and primary psychotic disorders. I provide individual psychotherapy to people in the community through this private practice.

Graduate Education
The George Washington University, 2017-2022
Degree Awarded: Doctor of Clinical Psychology (Psy.D., August 31, 2022)
Major Area Paper: Symbolizing the Predator: Object Relations In the Treatment of Psychopathy
Degree Awarded: Master of Clinical Psychology (M.Psy, 2019)

The Pennsylvania State University,  2015-2017
Degree Awarded: Master of Science, Neuroscience
The Eberly College of Science, Center for Neural Engineering
Thesis Title: The Neurophysiological Substrates of Stress Response and their Relevance to Resiliency in Trauma

Undergraduate Education
The Pennsylvania State University, 2013-2015
Degree Awarded: Bachelor of Science with Honors, Mathematics
Minor: Neuroscience
Honors Thesis Title: Toward a Graph Theoretical Model of Functional Connectivity in Chronic Developmental Traumatic Stress Disorders

The University of Texas at Austin, 2009-2012
Degree Awarded: Bachelor of the Arts with Special Honors, French
Minor: Psychology
Honors Thesis Title: Les effets de la diglossie sur lʼassimilation identitaire chez les français bilingues dʼorigine maghrébine: une étude pilote (The effects of diglossia on identity assimilation in bilingual French citizens of Maghrebi origin: A pilot study)

Clinical Experience
Senior Psychologist
Community Transition Unit
Central Regional Hospital, NC

Postdoctoral Clinical Psychology Fellow, 11/2022 – 5/2024
Central Regional Hospital, NC

Predoctoral Psychology Intern, 08/2021- 08/2022
Federal Correctional Complex - Butner
Federal Bureau of Prisons

Clinical Neuropsychology Extern, 08/2020- 06/2021
National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD

Clinical Psychology Extern, 08/2018-03/2020
Connected Psychology, Washington, DC

Clinical Psychology Extern, 08/2018-07/2020
The George Washington University Center Clinic, Washington, DC

Volunteer Counselor/Advocate, 09/2016-10/2017
CentreSafe, State College, PA